BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) issued a
landmarkpolicydocument on Sunday to allow farmers to "lease their
contracted farmland or transfer their land use right" to boost the scale of operation for farm production and provide funds for them to start new businesses.
The Decision on Major Issues Concerning the Advancement of Rural Reform and Development was approved by the CPC Central Committee on Oct. 12 at a plenary
session.
According to the full text of the
document, markets for the lease of
contracted farmland and transfer of farmland use rights shall be set up and improved to allow farmers to sub-contract, lease, exchange and swap their land use rights, or joined share-holding entities with their farmland.
Such transfers of land-use rights must be voluntarily participated by farmers, with adequate payment and in
accordance with the law, the CPC Central Committee said.
According to domestic law, farmland is collectively owned, but meted out to farmers in small plots in long term leasing contracts. The new measures adopted are seen by economists as a major breakthrough in land reforms initiated by late leader Deng Xiaoping 30 years ago, which will avail farmers of opportunities to conduct scale management and new business operations.
When the
document was drafted, some have argued that the new
policy might create a few landlords and
landless farmers who will have no means for a living. And arable lands to be used for non-farming purposes, might threaten the country's food safety.
To ease such fears, the CPC Central Committee also provided in the
document that the country would carry out "the most stringent farmland protection system" and urged local authorities to firmly
safeguard the 1.8
billion mu (120 million hectares)
minimum farmland set line.
China is facing a sharp conflict between land supply and demand. The area of arable land
shrank 610,100 mu in 2007 to 1.826
billion mu, only slightly above the government's set
target.
The CPC Central Committee also called on local governments to stick to "the most stringent land
conservation system" to
strictly control the total scale of the land used for urban development.
The government would
strive to double the per-capita disposable income of rural residents from the 2008 level to more than 1200 U.S. dollars by 2020, the Party
document said.
关键字:
国内英语新闻生词表: